


Alt.1 Waterlogged

by blazingstar29



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Awesome Clint Barton, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes & Peter Parker Friendship, Car Accidents, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton & Peter Parker Friendship, F/M, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Parker Angst, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, SHIELD, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whumptober 2019, alt prompt. 1, waterlogged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-01 07:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20811347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazingstar29/pseuds/blazingstar29
Summary: A crunch of gravel woke Peter from his fitful doze. The ache in his bones was as painful as ever, he was no longer shivering. But the urge to cry was still there, as much as he hoped that someone had found him, but the likelihood someone would look down into the gulley was slim. He feared that if he got out of the car, he wouldn’t be able to get back in, and then the cold would truly get him.





	Alt.1 Waterlogged

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt credits go to 
> 
> @whumptober2019 (Tumblr)
> 
> @la-vie-en-whump (Tumblr

Day 1  
Alternate Prompt: Waterlogged 

The engine wouldn’t turn over, but Clint wasn’t worried.  
The sun was sinking, but Clint wasn’t worried.  
The teenage mutant sitting next to him was shivering, Clint is worried. 

Clint didn’t realise how steep the gulley was once he got out to look at the damage. Miraculously the Ford pick up had mostly survived the fall into the stream, he and Peter had managed to rock it back up on to all four tires. They didn’t come out unscathed, on further inspection the almost all the tech in the pick up was wrecked. And whilst Peter was supporting the back of the car it surged up the bank of the stream and the momentum had flung him into the icy water. 

That was forty minutes ago, Peter was in Clint’s army shirt he wore on top of his singlet and the sweat pants he wore the grounds this morning. The cold was still breaking into his joints. 

“You good kid?” Clint asks as he tries the engine again. Peter nods grimly his knees folded up to his chest, bare feet resting on the dash. “We’ll be fine, the engine will dry out in no time. Nevertheless, five minutes later he slides out and pops the hood before cussing a blue streak. 

“What’s wrong?” Peter asks sticking his head out the window. He couldn’t see Clint, who was gripping the bull bar so tight his knuckles were white. 

“Try and turn the ignition on,” comes the only reply. Dutifully, Peter slides across the centre console and turns the key. The engine tries and tries, Peter thinks it’s finally going to go when he hears Clint start yelling.

“Stop, stop!” Peter freezes letting the key go slack and jumps out the car to Clint. The agent just points to the black smoke coming from the exhaust. “The spark plugs are buggered too.” 

“Oh,” Peter responds, but then thinks how stupid that sounds. However right now he’s chilled to the bone and knows for sure they are out of reception and radio contact. Dejected they retreat back the care 

“Never trust Shield to give you a four-wheel drive that does the job. Trust me kid, this type of stuff is what Land Rovers live and breathe.” Peter is barley listening, he’s scared, and the cold is intensifying. He wishes with all his might that Tony would find them. He wishes he could go back to earlier in the day, the team bonding exercise Shield decided they needed. 

They only thing that proved that the game of paint ball even happened were the splotches of green on the army fatigues. Peter wished he had swallowed his fear of Steve and drove back to the compound with him and Tony.  
-

“I wish Peter rode with us this afternoon, I would have liked the chance to talk to him.” Tony glanced over the top of his holograms at Steve. 

“You’ll get the chance to become buddies, Capsicle,” he dismissed the soldiers worries, however bolted upright moments later, “shouldn’t they be back by know?” Steve frowned, they should, the rest of the time made it back from the grounds a half hour ago. 

“They probably went into town to get food, Peter’s saddled with a metabolism faster than mine,” it was Steve’s turn to admonish Tony’s worries. He sighed and relaxed back into his work.

The hours trickle by without notice.

-  
Peter’s watch glowed with just enough light to show him the time: 4:13 am.  
“I gotta go Pete, no one’s going to find us in a gulley. I’m going to follow the road, but you need to stay here, you’ll stay warm in the car,” Peter knew Clint was going to say it at some point, that he had to go and get help. If anyone went up the dirt track, they would miss the wreckage completely. Clint disappeared into the night, but Peter could hear him struggling up the bank for almost twenty minutes. After that the sound of his breaths reached Peter for just five minutes before he was gone. 

Sleep didn’t come to Peter, the cold pushed it away. It kept him awake, twisting and shivering for hours on end. The wind was loud, but by some saving grace didn’t reach him in the gulley. The night was so dark, it scared Peter, who was always used to the light pollution Queen’s provides. With no one around him to see, he let the hot tears building up in his eyes spill over and dampen his cheeks. The sobs torment his diaphragm, he sucked in shaky breaths, trying to still his breathing before it came to a head in the form of an anxiety attack. He stayed in this state, on the brink of a full scale meltdown for hours. 

Even the broken shafts of sun light didn’t list his spirits. 

-

“Where’s Peter and Clint?” The demand broke Steve from his early morning haze. The compound was still largely asleep, Tony had left this morning to DC to meet Rhodey.

Steve turned to look at Natasha, “you mean, they didn’t come in during- shit, fuck, shit.”  
Natasha looked on at him, if the situation was as dire, she would show more than a glimmer of amusement. But her team mates were missing.

“Friday, assemble the remaining Avengers in the compound,” she ordered  
Over the next few minutes, Sam, Bucky, Scott and Bruce who is sporting a rather large bruise on the jaw from being caught in the cross fire of yesterday’s paint ball match, even though he was playing ref. 

“As you may have gathered, Peter and Clint did not make it back from the exercise yesterday.” There is a sharp intake of breath. “I asked Friday this morning and she says but the trackers on the car were not responding, which means that they’ve been ruined in a crash or someone’s taken them off,” Nat tells them bleakly. 

-

When the road finally broke onto tarmac Clint could have cried. His watch told him it was 9:03, which mean he had been stumbling through bush land for almost five hours. Limping to the gates, he punched in the security code. The driveway that led up to the compound felt infinite, it was then a single tear slipped down his face. Just one, before he was drawing in a deep breath and a final ounce of adrenaline dipped into his bloodstream and he was sprinting up the drive. Legs covering ground as if Hydra were after him. 

To his left the wall of windows reflected his shape, the entrance was on just the other side. Help was on the other side.  
The stars in the corner of his vision had gravitated across, maybe he would have kept going if a pothole hadn’t brought him down. 

-  
Bucky was as an assassin, he was trained to kill and with that training came sharp eyes which gravitated to the teeniest bit of movement, of difference in the landscape. His head turned out the large windows to his right, the garden seemed pristine. Then he saw it. 

“I found Clint.”

“Buck? Be serious please-” Steve sighed at his friend. Exasperated Bucky grabbed his friends jaw and tugged it in the directions of the window, the rest of the Avengers craned their necks to see. 

“What the hell?” Bruce muttered heading for the elevator, “grab him and meet me in the med bay!” Steve, Bucky and Nat jumped into action to collect Clint. 

-

Clint woke around 11:00, with a glance to his around he saw his best friend sitting at his bedside. She smiled when he saw here, and then it all came back.

“Peter! We need to get Peter!” He exclaimed.

“Clint calm down, Steve, Bucky, Sam and Scott are ready to go out and look for him. We just needed to hear your story,” Nat soothed him, grabbing his hand. She turned to the glass and waved in Bruce and Steve. 

“How are you feeling, Clint?” the man asked fiddling with the IV. 

The man in question gave a cheeky smile that was over shadowed with worry, “great, had a nice nap on the drive. But we need to find Peter.” Steve sat down next to Natasha, a folded map in hand.

“Run us through what happened,” he said.

Clint took a breath, “we were driving back on the track after packing up. It was getting dark, but it was fine, when something on the track gave out and the car fell into this stream at the bottom of this gulley. Peter and I were fine, nothing to horrible so we set to work getting the car back on its tires. We get it on the bank, but Peter’s loses grip and falls into the water. This is where it starts going shit, he’s wet but I have sweat pants in the back and a I’m wearing to shirts. But the engine wont start meaning our systems our down, and we have no heating. I left around one am, he’s going to be freezing, we need to go!” 

Steve nods, and grasps Clint’s shoulder, “we’ll find him. Tony’ will kill us if we don’t.”  
With a final glance between Clint and Natasha he leaves to go prep the others. 

-

The four wheel drive skips over the terrain, its three o’clock. It had been to hours before the team had been able to leave. Steve had been managing Tony for a large proportion of it, begging him to stay for the conferences with the ministers and the military. 

Sam and Scott where covering the back route to the grounds. Steve and Bucky were taking the route Clint thinks he was on. Every turn felt identical, the ground never changed. Steve kept his eyes firm on the road as the sun began sinking lower. 

“Wait,” Bucky ordered from the passenger seat, Steve immediately hit the brakes. Before the car fully stopped Bucky was out assessing the land slide. A chunk of the road was missing, Bucky glanced back at Steve. Steve lifted the radio to his lips/ 

“Falcon? I think we got him, about two miles from the grounds on Hitch Hiker Track, were turning on the spot lights and going down.”

There was static across the line before Sam responded, “we’ll be right there Cap.”  
Sliding out of the cab Steve joined Bucky at the edge of the embankment, thirty feet below was the wreckage of the car. There was a miniscule glance between the two comrades, their eyes a reflection of fear at what they might find. One of the reasons Steve was so adamant that Tony stayed in DC whilst they sound Peter, if he were the one to find Peter it would do horrors to the man. Without hesitation, Steve began the descent down the embankment.

-

A crunch of gravel woke Peter from his fitful doze. The ache in his bones was as painful as ever, he was no longer shivering. But the urge to cry was still there, as much as he hoped that someone had found him, but the likelihood someone would look down into the gulley was slim. He feared that if he got out of the car, he wouldn’t be able to get back in, and then the cold would truly get him.

There was another sound now, talking, footsteps. More gravel crunching. 

“Peter!” A voice called. _ Steve?_

_ _“Peter!” Another said, _ Bucky? _ if his name wasn’t repeated, he is sure would have though he would have imagined it. ___ _

_ _ _ _With a voice thick with disuse he called back, “Steve?” The tears were now rolling thickly down Peter’s face. “Steve, I’m down here! Steve!” He was hysterical now, his heart beating a million miles a minute. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _Steve was sliding down into the gulley, he was sloshing through the stream desperately trying to reach Peter. The boy pushed open the door and with all his remaining strength stepped out. He staggered the few remaining steps, shutting down any qualms he had about the man, and fell into his chest. Huge sobs wracked his body, his legs giving out beneath him he fell into Steve’s arms letting them man support his minimal weight. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“It’s all right, it’s all right. You’re okay Peter, you’re okay,” the man soothed him, stroking his hair gently. Bucky came up next them, resting his flesh on the boys back. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Steve,” he croaks the mans name through the tears._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _-_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _It was a struggle getting Peter up the slope. His bone dead exhausted, he slips every meter. Even with Bucky pulling him up and Steve supporting his side, he only just hauls himself over the top. Steve tugs the door open for Peter who lifts his leg up only to freeze. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“No, no not again not again,” he back steps into Steve’s chest. The teen reaches for Steve’s arm, gripping it fiercely. “I can’t, Steve. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!” The stricken soldier looks at Bucky, who only stares back equally stumped. At this moment another car drives up behind them, Sam and Scott clamber out. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _Peter’s sobs are growing are again, without missing a beat Scott steps forward and takes Peter’s hands in his own and turns him so they’re facing each other. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“It’s alright Peter, we’re just going to breathe in,” Scott exaggerates his breathing. “And out, in, and out.” This goes on for fifteen minutes, Peter’s breathing calms, his heart beat lowering. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _Within moments, the post panic attack exhaustion puts him dead on his feet. It allows him to be man handled in to a car, falling asleep the moment his body no longer has to support him. And the miniature convoy sets course for home._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _-_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _When Tony Stark orders you to move and let him see his goddam kid, you move. So, when Bruce tries to tell him that it’s worse than he looks, he doesn’t care. Okay he does, he always listens to what Bruce has to say. But damnit let him see his kid. He had sat there, through the night and into the morning whilst Peter rested, waiting for those brown eyes to stare back at him. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _And eventually he does wake up. He stares up at Tony and Clint and smiles through the tears as he grips Tony in a bone crushing hug. Then he does the same to Clint, who apologises countless times for leaving him in the car. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _-_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _During his recovery, Peter finds himself in the quiet company of Steve Rogers. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Peter?” He starts. “I’d like to apologise if, if I have ever caused you fear or discomfort.” _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _Peter looked down at his lap thoughtfully, “I don’t know really why I have this rational fear of you, sir. Perhaps it’s this feeling left over from the Walmart parking lot fight. I know you and Tony made amends, but I reckon there is some unresolved feeling of apprehension that one day you’re going to turn around and drop a fridge on me or something. But I think after you’ve saved me, my brain trusts you now, like it needed evidence that you weren’t going to hurt me.” He looked up and smiled at the man._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _And as the months passed so did Peter’s anxiety. But sometimes if the road was a little to bumpy, or the shower water was a little too cold, his breath would hitch. Or if Steve stepped forwards a little too quickly, he would flinch horribly. But that’s okay, he’s healing. From the fresh trauma from the gulley, and old trauma with Steve. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ ___

_ _ _ _ _Two days ago_ ___ _ _ _ __

_ _ _ “With all due respect Colonel. There is no reason for Stark and even you to be pulling out of a meeting that’s been scheduled fourteen months in advance. Get him back here!” The Minister of Defence growled out._ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _Rhodey levelled his gaze at the man, “Agent Barton and other personnel went missing after a training exercise. Barton has been found, Stark has every right to be there and looking for the remaining personnel. He has not left the state, he is on a conference call with Captain Rogers.” _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _The doors opened again, and a dishevelled Tony walked in and took his place again, “right… let’s get this thing over with.” _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _The Ministers glanced between each other before picking up the agenda. Four the next three hours the conference went off without a hitch. Until Tony’s phone started buzzing. With lightning speed, he picked up the call instantly. _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _“Steve?” The man’s voice was low and serious._ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ “We got him.” _ Tony instantly grabbed his computer shoving it into his brief case. Then without hesitation or farewell he was bursting through the doors. __ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _The Defence Minister rose to go after him, but Rhodes was quicker standing between him and the doors, “I don’t think you want to do that Mr. Minister.” _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _The man looked like a broody chicken who was taken off her eggs, “are you threatening me Colonel?”_ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _Rhodey didn’t skip a beat, “if that’s what it takes for you to sit down and we can finish this conference.”_ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _Present Day_ ___ _ _ _ __

_ _ _ _

_ _ _“You threatened the Minister of Defence? I’m proud of you sour patch, I didn’t think you had it in you!” Tony chortled. Rhodey had landed back Upstate this morning after finally finishing in DC._ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _“You owe me Tony,” he said smiling. _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _“Alright, I’ll tell the kid to laugh at your “boom you looking for this” joke.” Tony passed the wine glass to Rhodey who merely just rolled his eyes._ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _“Har har. Very funny asshole.”_ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _“I try my best platypus,” he responded sweetly._ _ _


End file.
